TLDR
Utah children’s author Kouri Richins has been convicted of aggravated murder and financial crimes in the 2022 fentanyl death of her husband, Eric Richins, with jurors weighing weeks of forensic, financial, and procedural testimony. She now awaits sentencing and potential post-trial motions.
Public fascination with Kouri Richins began with a children’s grief book and ended with a murder conviction. A Utah jury has now found the 35-year-old author guilty of killing her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl. The case turned on money, medical science, and credibility.
According to trial reporting and charging documents, jurors in Summit County unanimously convicted Richins of aggravated murder, attempted criminal homicide, insurance fraud, and forgery connected to Eric Richins’ March 2022 death in Kamas, Utah. Sentencing is scheduled for May 13th, and she faces a potential life sentence.
🚨 #BREAKING: GUILTY on all counts
Verdict reached Kouri Richins trial. It will be read at 6:20pm
Guilty Aggravated murder
Guilty Attempted Agg murder
Guilty Insurance Fraud
Guilty Insurance Fraud
Guilty Forgery pic.twitter.com/ozmWKK1Dxd— Heidi Hatch KUTV (@tvheidihatch) March 17, 2026
Financial Motive and Insurance Disputes
Prosecutors presented the killing as the culmination of escalating financial pressure. Court filings state that in the years before Eric Richins’ death, his wife quietly obtained multiple life insurance policies on him totaling nearly $2 million, then tried to change beneficiaries and take control of family and business assets.
A forensic accountant testified that Richins carried roughly $7.5 million in debt, with accounts frequently overdrawn and monthly obligations around $80,000. Jurors heard that she turned to payday lenders, closed on a $2.9 million mansion in Wasatch County on the day her husband died, and later spent $1.35 million in life insurance proceeds within three months. In closing arguments, Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told jurors that “the evidence proves that Kouri Richins murdered, attempted to murder Eric Richins,” arguing that the financial trail supported the poisoning theory.
Forensic Evidence and Alleged Poisoning Attempts
Medical and toxicology records were central to the state’s theory. According to charging documents, a medical examiner found more than five times a lethal dose of illicit fentanyl in Eric Richins’ system, along with high levels of quetiapine, an antipsychotic sometimes prescribed as a sleep aid.
Prosecutors alleged that on a night in March 2022, Richins served her husband a celebratory cocktail at their home that was secretly laced with fentanyl. They also introduced evidence about an incident on February 14th, 2022, when, according to investigators, Eric Richins broke out in hives, struggled to breathe, used an EpiPen, and survived after eating a sandwich his wife had provided, which prosecutors characterized as a prior poisoning attempt. The case drew additional attention because, after his death, Richins wrote a children’s book about coping with grief for their three sons.
Defense Challenges and Next Legal Steps
Richins’ attorneys argued throughout the trial that the state’s case relied too heavily on inferences. They questioned delays in investigative reports, highlighted missing notes, and challenged how law enforcement collected and stored items from the Richins home, including phones and THC gummies, during the earliest searches.
A state toxicologist acknowledged during cross-examination that it was theoretically possible Eric Richins ingested fentanyl on his own before drinking the cocktail, a concession the defense framed as reasonable doubt. Jurors nevertheless accepted the prosecution’s version of events, convicting Kouri Richins on every count. Her legal team has indicated it is reviewing post-trial options as she awaits sentencing.
